DRC Military Leader Guilty in Landmark Trial – HRW

(New York) – The conviction of the Mai Mai commander Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga and 20 other Mai Mai combatants for crimes on major charges, including crimes against humanity, by a military court on March 5, 2009, was a crucial step toward creating accountability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today.

The trial by the military court of the garrison of Haut-Katanga, in Katanga province, lasted for 19 months and was the country’s largest trial involving charges of crimes against humanity. In its landmark ruling, the military court also found the government liable for failing to disarm the Mai Mai militias and awarded damages to the victims.

KIPUSHI, DR Congo (AFP) — A former Congolese militia leader was sentenced to death by a military court in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo for war crimes and other offences, a judicial source said Friday.

Kyungu Mutanga, alias “Commander Gedeon”, headed a so-called Mai-Mai militia group blamed for numerous attacks on civilians in parts of Katanga province between 2003 and 2006, when the country was wracked by civil war.

He surrendered to United Nations peacekeepers in May 2006 at Mitwaba and was transferred to Lubumbashi, the capital of Katanga, pending trial.

The court at Kipushi, 30 kilometres (20 miles) southeast of Lubumbashi, handed down the death penalty for war crimes, crimes against humanity, insurrection and terrorism, the source said.

His wife was sentenced to seven years in prison and another defendant to ten years, but five others were acquitted for lack of proof.

However the court also ordered the Congolese state to pay 17 million dollars (13 million euros) to 75 families of Mutanga’s victims because of its alleged support for his group up to 2003.